No Expectations for Janice Tjen

Competing alongside world-class tennis player Janice Tjen in the Australian Open. This is only the second Grand Slam for the 23-year-old Indonesian player, and no expectations have been set from the perspective of results.

Janice will compete in the women's singles and doubles events in the championship taking place from January 18 to February 1. In the women's singles, the world-ranked 59 tennis player will face the 22nd seed, Leylah Fernandez, in the first round.

They are positioned in the lower half of the draw alongside holders of six Grand Slam titles, Iga Swiatek, Amanda Anisimova, Elena Rybakina, and Jessica Pegula. If she can create an upset by winning the first round, Janice could face Karolina Pliskova or Sloane Stephens.

The match against the finalist of the 2021 US Open Grand Slam, marking Janice's debut at the Australian Open, will take place on the third day of the tournament, Tuesday (20/1/2026), at ANZ Arena. This arena, previously known only as Court 3, is the fifth largest court by capacity at Melbourne Park.

ANZ Arena has a capacity of 3,000 spectators, the same as 1573 Arena (Court 2). Other larger venues include KIA Arena (5,000 spectators), Margaret Court Arena (7,500), John Cain Arena (10,300), and Rod Laver Arena (approximately 15,000).

In the doubles competition, Janice is paired with Kataryzna Piter (Poland) and will face the home duo, Daria Kasatkina/Arina Rodionova, in the first round. Piter is Janice's partner who won one of the Australian Open warm-up tournaments, the WTA 250 Hobart, last week, and the WTA 250 Guangzhou, from October 20 to 26, 2025.

Janice accompanied her senior, Aldila Sutjiadi, who has been the only Indonesian tennis player to break into Grand Slam competition since 2022. For the fourth consecutive year at the Australian Open, Aldila played alongside Giuliana Olmos (Mexico). Aldila/Olmos lost in the second round at WTA Hobart, but they have the experience of reaching the final of WTA 500 Guadalajara in September 2025.

Meanwhile, Aldila will compete in the Australian Open for the fourth time and reached the third round in 2023 as her best result, while Janice will play in a Grand Slam for the first time at the beginning of this competitive season. Her first experience competing at the highest level of professional tennis tournaments took place in the United States in August 2025. At that time, Janice secured a qualifying ticket, won three matches in that phase to advance to the main draw, and lost to Emma Raducanu in the second round.

After that, Janice participated in four WTA Tour tournaments at the 250 and 1000 levels, as well as two WTA 125 tournaments. She reached the final at WTA Sao Paulo and won the WTA Chennai, both at the 250 level. The women's singles title in Chennai, India, was complemented by a doubles title alongside Aldila.

During the preparation period to compete at Melbourne Park, Janice participated in two tournaments in Australia after a pre-season training session with Aldila in Bali. However, she was defeated in the first round at the WTA Auckland and Hobart.

Observing Janice's journey in the professional arena, particularly in the Grand Slam and WTA Tour, her coach, Chris Bint, has not set specific outcome targets for the Australian Open. He wants Janice to give her best and fight for every point.

Bint is a coach from England who has been training in New Zealand since 2023. He first met Janice when the Jakarta-born tennis player participated in an ITF tournament in New Zealand in December 2024. Their collaboration began in April 2025 when Janice was competing in South Korea.

In the early period of the collaboration, as recounted in The Athletic in August 2025, Bint focused on fundamental aspects such as nutrition and Janice's rest patterns. In the technical area, he developed the accuracy of her serves and enhanced the level of Janice's net play.

Given these factors, Bint also wants to see Janice's progress, rather than setting a target for the Australian Open. Bint responded to Kompas's questions about her and Janice's plans and targets via her social media accounts.

The Australian Open is Janice's second Grand Slam. What are Janice's and your expectations as coaches?

We have never set expectations on the final outcome. She is still very new and lacks experience competing in the WTA at this level. She will give her best and fight for every point regardless of who her opponent is, as Janice always does.

Janice will play in the 2025 US Open and on the WTA Tour. What lessons will she learn for her next journey?

Every day and every match is an opportunity for Janice to learn and develop her game as well as herself. Each opponent is different, with their own playing style, strengths, and weaknesses. Being able to compete against the best players in the world every week is the destination she aims for in her tennis journey.

What development have you seen from Janice during your time as her coach?

Since collaborating, we have truly taken the time to develop the characteristics/values of coaching, he wants to be known for what kind of person and player he is, as well as education on what is needed to become a professional athlete.

Janice is also beginning to understand her identity and the playing patterns she wants to pay more attention to through video analysis. Developing an aggressive game with variations is very important, as is improving her biomechanics/serving technique and forehand strokes to have a reliable weapon.

Being able to consistently counter players who hit the ball harder is the next aspect that needs to be developed, both in terms of forehand and backhand.

So, what developments would you like to see from Janice this year?

Every player always strives to improve various aspects of their game, so we will continue to develop those areas without forgetting what makes Janice the player she is today.

We apply a ratio of approximately 80-20 in the training field, which means continuously developing strengths compared to the time spent on areas that need improvement. We have brought in a full-time fitness coach to travel with us this year to maintain physical condition, develop movements, and do everything we can to prevent injuries considering the busy tennis tournament schedule.

In the long term, bringing a physiotherapist into the team will also be important, but everything comes with a cost, so we are trying to manage the budget as effectively as possible.